Nootropics?

Has anyone here successfully experimented with nootropics and other “smart pills”?

I’ve been taking Alpha Brain from www.onnitlabs.com and have been taking Piracetam for a few years. They seem to be helping, though I haven’t quantified them enough to be able to offer stats.

I feel like my mind moves faster, I can focus longer and my memory is quicker and more accurate when I take them.

Anybody else?

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Great question! I myself have been thinking about experimenting with Piracetam (for cognitive performance) and perhaps, galanthamine (for lucid dreaming), but not sure yet. I am not a big fan of supplements or artificially enhanced diets in general. Certainly, self-tracking would be useful in this case: determining the optimal dose, tracking main and side effects and effectiveness, etc.


Analytics just got personal! Can you express your everyday life in numbers? Can you improve your life by turning it into a series of games and experiments? Follow my personal Quantified Self experiment to find out: www.measuredme.com

What would you use to track your cognitive performance? I played around with the idea of tracking the effect of exercise on my cognition, and found a few tests online, but I hadn’t gotten around to trying it out when I hurt my back (and ended all exercise for a while). Huh, if I’d thought of it, I could have tested the effect of pain on cognition. I certainly noticed an increase in stupid moments, which I attributed to pain.

Measuredme - check out the Alpha Brain for lucid dreaming. My dreams have been wild since I started taking it.

I’m not sure how you’d measure cognition reliably…except that I feel the difference on the days I take it and don’t.

Perhaps a short form, time dependent IQ style test?
Hard to maintain scientific accuracy on as the questions will be different?

Flash cards for memory tests?

Thank you, I will check it out! Btw, I reviewed a couple of apps for measuring cognition recently:

http://measuredme.com/2012/11/one-of-the-self-tracking-projects-that-i-always-wanted-to-do-was-to-determine-the-impact-of-sleep-diet-and-exercise-regimen-html/

I am currently testing another app, StroopEffect.

I tried Alpha Brain and it works pretty good but I highly recommend racetam/ampakines and choline. Racetams like Piracetam, Aniracetam, Oxiracetam and Pramiracetam. There are many more like Noopept which is technically a nootropic dipeptide but works in much the same way.

Then you have your choline sources to stack with racetams to facilitate an increase in Acetylcholine. Sources include Alpha GPC, CDP Choline, ALCAR, Choline Bitartrate.

Anyway, I love nootropics and they have helped me immensely. I have learned a lot from friends of mine. Usually go to http://peaknootropics.com for nootropic powder but there are a few good suppliers i may cycle through

I can’t resist posting this review of ancient history, circa 1991, when I did some research on so called smart drugs in the Mondo 2000 forum on the Well. I’m not too impressed with my research methods, which would be fair to describe as trying random things and forming opinions about them, but even in my puerile state I did eventually come to recognize that “smart is not a feeling.”

http://www.acceler8or.com/2012/02/smart-drugs-nutrients-in-1991-mondo-2000-history-project-entry-5/

I’ve never returned to trying any of the Racetams, but I’d be interested to see some data on cognitive performance, if there is any.

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Anyone had any experience with deprenyl? Fowkes recommends it, and part of his rationale is that it helps to integrate left and right brain function.

I have had great success with [link deleted for now - eds]. Right now i am on a pretty heavy stack.

Piracetam
Aniracetam
Oxiracetam
Alpha GPC
Sulbutiamine
Mucuan Pruriens
L theanine

This stack is working so great for me. I am thinking about cutting out the sulbutiamine and adding in sunifiram. Suni is supposed to be 1000-1500x as strong as piracetam and it works mostly as an ampakine nootropic. Has anyone here tried it?

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Thanks, Lonnie. I’ll check it out. – S.

I tried Alpha Brain from http://www.livewellnootropics.com/ and it works well but I highly recommend Choline:

Centrophenoxine
Alpha GPC
Acetyl L-Carnitine
Citicoline

Other Types of Nootropic Supplements are two, lab different forms of vitamin B known as the Pyritinol and the Sulbutimaine. These two are perfect types of Nootropics and fortunately they are sold O-T-C in the United States, however, for other countries a prescription may be required.
For more information you can visit above website - livewellnootropics

Aniracetam and Alpha Brain for me, however neither have given me more than a short (1 hour) window of increased focus/mental function. I could simply have a high tolerance to it, but I should probably stack it with some choline. I’ve even tried taking it a few hours before bed to see how it impacts dreaming but so far nothing. I know different people respond to different nootropics, so I may simply need to check out some of the other racetams.

I have used modafinil from https://modafinilxl.com/modafinil-reviews-ratings/. I can’t say that it gave me any effect…

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Yup. I have tried all kinds of nootropics, including pre-formulated ones like Alpha Brain, as well as created my own stacks. I did get decent effects from Alpha Brain, but I find nothing beats fine tuning a stack to match your own brain chemistry. They tend to work so much better for me than any mass produced off the shelf blend.

I would suggest start with a single nootropic, like a Noopept or oxiracetam, and once you get used to it, start adding other supplements. Take a look at www.bestnootropicsnow.com to figure out which ones would be good options depending on your goals (if, for example, your goal is to manage anxiety, you’re better off using certain specific nootropics over others).

I have tried armodafinil nootropics pills this medication is the best it work on me for keep wake during day time I have order the pills from armodafinilstore pharmacy with low cost and this pills given me a good result.

I take it ocassionally, as it helping with my panic attacks. I also use Phenibut for this reason, if this is interesting for anyone else: https://liftmode.com/calming/phenibut.html. You have to use it only occassionally, because it can build up a tolerance, but if you are careful, it can be quite useful for this condition and it is cheaper than CBD oil.

If you want to test the effects of nootropics in a controlled manner, Quantified Mind has been a perennial option.

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Have taken most things including obscure Russian ones like Semax. Most either did nothing or did so much that they quickly threw me off balance. Don’t think I’m competent to do the kind of fine tuning I’d need to turn this random chemical prodding into something of value. Returning to old effective staples like Alpha GCP and Sulbutiamine I find they no longer have an effect. I find some noots helpful for repairing damage / stress but not optimization of any kind. We need to understand psychopharmacology way better before doing this stuff. I understand 23&me got US gov approval to tell people if their DNA suggests they’d respond well to SSRIs - it’s a start.

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Hey Kyrill - do you have a link to that?

I tried Alpha Brain myself for a couple of weeks and really didn’t get much out of it. I certainly didn’t experience the kind of benefits they list on the website. This wasn’t just subjective; my work is easy to quantify, so I would have noticed if my productivity increased. I felt a little more focused, but not much at all.

I recently read some nootropic supplement reviews on Nootropic Zone and I’m starting to really doubt the claims that manufacturers make about their products. As others users here have said, it’s best to start off with a single substance - one with real scientific backing - and build your own stack up from there.